Nineteen years ago, a young talented black African man from Alexandra township, Dark City, ekasi, joined the marketing industry as a marketing executive for a multinational company. Louis Itumeleng Seeco quickly grasped that while advertising was a means to create, build and sell brands, the targets of its strategies were ordinary people. For the images and messages created in advertising to be relevant and effective, brand strategy had to recognise consumers’ cultural make-up. It was a realisation that triggered a passion for the science of marketing and advertising. Louis resolved that marketing and advertising principles must always be informed by the cultural and language landscape of the country in which brands strive to find that magic connection with people. It lead him to found elements.

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Ya thoma taba: Fourteen years ago, Louis Seeco invited other talented young men and women, from urban and rural areas of South Africa, to create an advertising agency that was to be known as elements. With this formidable, culturally diverse, experienced and energetic regiment began the battle to create images and messaging that speak to the hearts and souls of the people.

elements grew rapidly and as a company committed to true assimilation with the diverse cultures in South Africa, saw the need to set up offices around the country. The multitude of cultures in the country demanded communication of messages that would be proper and in harmony with the ethnicity of the people hearing them. At elements, we still strongly believe that full understanding of a society,s value system, language and culture demands full immersion into its environment and experience of its way of life. We share client information among all our branch offices to ensure not only quality production and distribution of suitable marketing materials to the right market, but optimal benefit for our clients from their advertising and marketing spend.

“Advertising is not about creating great works of art, it is about creating communications that are designed to accomplish specific business or social objectives. The understanding of human beings as well as their cultural and language diversity is fundamental in creating effective conceptualisation, imaging and messaging in marketing and advertising".